Monday, March 15, 1982
Eugana, Oragon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 118
emerald
-
a
Davis accepts job as chancellor
Weathersby bows out; scoffs at
‘an offer I could refuse and did’
From Em or a Id
and Aaaoclatod Proa* roport*
University of New Mexico Pres William
"Bud" Davis was hired as chancellor late
Friday night by the State Board of Higher
Education after its first choice, George
Weathersby, bowed out when he was
offered a salary between $70,000 and
$80,000
Board members, wearied by weeks of
touchy negotiations with Weathersby,
were obviously relieved when Davis ac
cepted the job for a salary of $75,000
plus benefits
"The board is happy with the way it
turned out," said Robert Ingalls, who
headed the board's three-member
negotiating team
Davis, 53, withdrew his name two
weeks ago when the board offered the
job to Weathersby. Indiana's 37-year-old
commissioner for higher education
After Weathersby rejected the board's
salary offer Thursday night. Davis was
asked to reconsider Final negotiations
were conducted quickly Friday after
noon and Davis was offered the job
shortly after a 9 p m conference call of
the board
The other remaining chancellor fin
alist, Kalamazoo College Pres George
Rainsford, was called by Board Pres, Ed
Harms after Davis was hired
Harms said the board’s original vote
on its top choice for chancellor "was
essentially a tie" between Weathersby
and Davis
"We think Davis will fit in well and
understands the area,” Harms said
“We re pleased that he's coming to
Oregon "
The primary problem facing the state
system is underfunding and erosion of
quality, Davis said in a press conference
after he was interviewed by the board
late last month
The system is not overbuilt, he said,
but education leaders must sit down with
legislators and citizens of the state and
decide what level of higher education
taxpayers are willing to support,
"You have to decide what league you
want to play in,” he said
Weathersby was reported as saying
the board would have a hard time finding
a qualified chancellor for the money it is
willing to pay "They made me an offer I
could refuse and I did.” Weathersby said
in an interview Friday with an Indian
but there are serious i
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Photo by Duane Shrag
William “Bud" Davis anwsers questions from reporter.
apolis paper.
Weathersby is paid about $70,000 a
year, but says he earns another $12,000
from his work as a consultant for foun
dations, institutions and non-profit cor
porations. Both Weathersby and Ingalls
denied news reports over the weekend
that said Weathersby had demanded
$90,000 for the Oregon post.
"What was being discussed was less
than my current income and no more
than is currently made by the presidents
of some of the campuses,” Weathersby
said when contacted by telephone
Thursday at his Indianapolis home.
Leonard Laster, president of the
Oregon Health Sciences University,
earns about $82,500.
Weathersby said the salary offered
"didn't appropriately reflect the set of
decisions I thought had been made rela
tive to the responsibility that the position
should have.”
"It (the salary offer) says the position
"(of chancellor) is no more significant and
is looked upon as equal in responsibility”
to the job of a university president,”
Weathersby said.
“If you want to deal with a market of
first-class people and first-class institu
tions, then you have to recognize the
market you're dealing with,” he said.
Davis has been president at the
University of New Mexico for seven years
and was the president of Idaho State
University for 10 years. He has a ba
chelor's degree in physical education, a
master's in education administration and
a doctorate in higher education.
In addition to the $75,000 base salary,
Davis will receive $5,000 for on-the-job
expenses and will reside in the chancel
lor's house. The state pays about
$18,000 a year for a housekeeper, utili
ties and upkeep for the large house.
I Davis will become the seventh state
system chancellor July 1, succeeding
Roy Lieuallen.
Photo by Bob Baker
Which way is up?
The horizon’s reflected Image Is captured by a puddle on the EMU balcony.